Premium renewal rate positive across almost the majority of commercial product lines in U.S.: IVANS

The premium renewal rate change for most standard commercial lines products in the United States remained in positive territory for July, with workers’ compensation representing the only standout, notes the latest IVANS Index.

The majority of standard commercial lines products – namely Auto, Business Owner’s Policy (BOP), General Liability, Property and Umbrella – saw positive premium renewal rates in July, notes a statement Wednesday from IVANS, a division of Applied Systems.

While all were in the positive zone, index figures show that some rate changes were lower at the end of July than at the end of June.

Related: All major commercial product lines in U.S. market enter positive territory: May IVANS Index

“Premium renewal rate change across the industry remained consistent, with Commercial Auto and Umbrella premium renewal rate change experiencing the greatest positive increase while Workers’ Compensation continues to trend more negatively,” Matt Foran, vice president of IVANS Markets, reports in the press release.

Specifically, rate changes by line of business for July are as follows:

• Commercial Auto – at 3.28%, this is up from 2.41% at the end of June;
• BOP – at 3.65%, this is down from 4.11% in June;
• General Liability – at 1.85%, this dipped below 2.22% at the end of June;
• Commercial Property – at 2.45%, this is down from 3.52% in June; and
• Umbrella – at 1.40%, this up from 0.97% as of the end of June.

“Workers’ Compensation is the one product that remains in the negative premium renewal rate, dipping below -1.00% for the first time this year,” IVANS reports. Specifically, at -1.41%, the premium renewal rate was down from -0.86% in June.

Figures from IVANS index report for 2017 Q2 shows a “slight uptick in premium renewal rate change average across BOP, Commercial Property and Workers’ Compensation compared to Q1.” However, WC “moved back into negative premium renewal rate change territory at the end of Q2 following positive territory in May.”

Other significant findings for the second quarter include the following:

• Commercial  Auto – premium renewal rate change averaged 2.57% for the quarter, ending at 2.41% for June;
• BOP – rate change averaged 4.21%, representing an increase over Q1’s average of 3.89%;
• General Liability – rate change was slightly more variable relative to Q1, with Q2’s low reaching 1.46% in May and ending the quarter at 2.22%;
• Commercial  Property – Q2 reversed the downward premium renewal rate change trend of prior quarter, with rates moving to 3.52% in June from an average of 2.66% in Q1;
• Umbrella – change averaged 0.94% versus 1.04% in Q1; and
• WC – Q2 experienced the first positive premium renewal rate change of 2017 in May at 0.58%, but quarterly average remained in negative territory at -0.16%.

Released monthly, the index is a data-driven report of current conditions and trends for premium rate renewal change of the most placed commercial lines of business in the insurance industry. It reflects the premium rate change trends being experienced by all agencies and insurers across the U.S. insurance market.